Hello All. Im sorry this is such a long post but I was hoping someone might be in the same boat as I am and have any advice or recommendations. I am a 24 year old male and have been suffering with extreme back pain for 14 months now. 6 months before graduating college I noticed some weird pain in my lower back on the right side but it was definately manageable. Well, a couple of days later I was sitting in a terrible position for about an hour or so and when I got up, I felt my back go completely out and immediately let out a scream and it has not been any better ever since. Ever since this has happened I have been through everything with only about a 5% decrease in pain. I started out going through PT then a chiropractor, then I started seeing a pain specialist and he performed some facet blocks and some injections on my SI joint and lumbar area. Nothing improved at all with all this treatment. I then went through traction therapy and this did not help at all but the therapist said that my pelvic bone was locked into a terrible position and realigned it. Ever since she popped it back, I can pop the top of my leg in and out of the socket it feels like but X-Rays showed no dislocation. I will say that ever since she did that I noticed a little pressure has let up and my tailbone and sleeping on my sides does not hurt as bad; it still kills but not as bad as before the pop. I then went to an orthopaedic surgeon and he did an MRI and it showed that my L5/S1 disc was suffering from DDD but he said it wasnt even that bad. He then performed a CT scan and performed a discogram on me and said the test was positive because I screamed in pain when he injected the dye into the L5/S1 disc, so I opted to apply for an IDET procedure. Well, Useless Health Care, I mean United Health Care has denied me twice so far and magically "lost" my last appeal since I will be dropped at the end of May when I turn 25. My question is, do you have any recommendations? My symptoms: Extreme lower back pain on both sides of my body but mainly the right side. When sitting I feel like there is a softball sticking out of my back in the L1/T12? region along with the extreme pain in my lower back, hips, and tailbone. I can not sleep at all at night lying on my back because my tailbone hurts so bad and when I lay on either side, that side hurts too bad as well. I can not lie on my stomach as well because of the pain. I can not stand for more than 20 minutes because it feels like I have a muscle pulled on my right side below my shoulder blade and then my right leg starts to hurt real bad and my right knee begins to feel as if it is hyperexteded to an extent. I also have pain at the bottom of my butt when standing but very little sciatic pain. I have tried to do everything possible to get rid of this terrible monster that has plagued me for the last 14 months by stretching, exercising, cardio work, and by lifting weights. The only meds that doctors seem to put me on are anti-inflammatories and these have 0 effect. I have wasted around $500 on medication and am completely sick of it. A friend of my mom's gave me around 75 methadone tablets and these seem to be the only thing that works but I don't like taking them too often for fear of becoming addicted. I have pain 24/7 and nothing at all seems to work. I am so disgusted and displeased with our healthcare system and have been having thoughts of just completely giving up in life because my life seems to be completely ruined. I can't work and my social life is completely gone and the only thing I do anymore is basically mope around and feel helpless. I'm sorry this was such a long post but I felt that it was important to give the whole situation and not leave anything out. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Hi Brandon. You are so young to already be having these problems...and I am so sorry.

Truth be told, your symptoms are indicative of a lot more than DDD. It sounds like a herniated disc and nerve impingement. I don't know why nothing like that showed, but I would bet it is there because so many of your symptoms sound like mine prior to fusion.

I would suggest seeing another doctor, either ortho or neurosurgeon and take all your tests results with you. My guess is that you may need to push to have a myelogram done or an MRI with contrast. Something is not showing up, IMHO.

As for your insurance company, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so get on the phone every single day and but the heck out of them.

Another thing is that you might want to do some research about IDET. Studies are showing that lots of pts. who have the IDET end up having a fusion because it just isn't working the way it had been hoped.

Good luck, Brandon.

Carol

Brandon-

My heart goes out to you more than you know!! I was in an auto accident Jan. '01 and have had horrible back pain since then (I was 29 at the time & my girls were 1,3,6 & 7). I've had over 25 injections in several different sites (facet, tailbone, SI joint, etc); many, many, many diffent med combos; PT; chirophratic; massage; electro-therapy; accupuncture; radio frequency denervation; discogram; IDET; L3/L4, L4/L5, L5/S1 spinal fussion; back to more injections; medial branch block; and a radio frequency ablation scheduled for next week.

All of these things & nothing has really helped. The fusion helped ease some of the compression feelings but in turn has limited me in ways I'll never get back. And when I still have such a young family - I feel very upset, sad & frustrated by that.

I have to agree w/the suggestion to research the IDET more. Knowing your insurance is giving you a hard time; I think I'd spend me energy on the bigger picture - finding the solution so that you can cope w/every day life. I'd see about getting to a Pain Doctor & a neurosurgeon.

I feel like there's hope for you & for sure the squeaky wheel gets the grease. So please keep working on the insurance company & maybe if you went to & worked with your primary care physician they could get you a referral to the right doctor.

I hope tomorrow proves to be a better day. I completely understand the feeling of hoplessness & the insane feeling you get when you're in pain 24/7. Some days I just don't know what to do or how to deal - ya know??!!

Good Luck to you & I hope you get some answers!!
Tina

You are kinda young to have DDD unless something caused it.

My heart goes out to you. You are so young.

Don't settle for one opinion. At least you got the worst test out of the way, the dreaded discogram. Did you get an EMG? That would have hurt less.

The last thing that you want, unless a nerve is involved, is surgery. Losing your paper work may be a blessing. If it goes wrong then you will be on the pain management board.

If you keep taking the narcs you may end up on the addiction board.

It all sounds so dreary.

There are a lot of alternatives to explore before surgery if you are not in danger of nerve damage. There are actually people who have overcome back pain without surgery although I have yet to find a cure for mine.

JUST SAY NO TO CORTIZONE SHOTS!!!!

Read The Burton Report and then look up centralized pain. You are an educated person so I know that you can appreciate knowledge before action.

:)

I would like to thank you all for your insights and recommended reading. I am in the process of doing these now but to top everything off that is going on in my life as I had mentioned before is that I will be dropped from my insurance at the end of May. Unfortunately I am in a situation where I can not hold down a job and receive medical benefits so I have become very scared as to what is going to happen from June on. Is there any health care provider anyone recommends or a person or company I should call to erase this huge concern of mine? Any info would be great. Again, thanks for your concerns and recommendations.

Brandon -
Are you able to apply for State Medical Assistance?? And because of the new HIPPA (health insurance portability & privacy act) that passed this past year, you should be able to Cobra (or carry over) your health ins. The drawback is that it can be VERY expensive.
Not sure any of this helps & I'm sorry you have even more to worry about!
Tina

Bradon, sorry to hear you are having so much trouble getting help. I started out with a herniated disc and a cortizone shot helped. 2 years later, I experienced extreme pain when I turned one way and came back but my back didn't. All I would have to do is sneeze or cough and it would through my back out. I could only sit for a few minutes at a time, could not walk far, could not sleep on my stomach and was on 3 different pain medications. I had a lumbar laminectomy and fusion done. This is where they had to take out 2 discs and but in titaniumn rods with bone chips. The bone chips have grown naturally and I have been pain free since 8/96.

Also, it was found that my ligaments had thickened and I had bone spurs.

Indications for Surgery: the indication for lumbar laminectomy and fusion is instability are the presence of spinal stenosis proven by radiologic studies accompanied by leg pain that has been unremitting to conservative treatment or numbness and weakness in leg.

Maybe you could talk to your doctor about this surgery. It had only been in existence for 4 years when I had it done. I feel like a completely different person and I have not had any back pain since.

Charla

Charla,

you have no pain but do you have the same range of movement? Can you bend? Weren't there other alternatives?

Sorry about your pain. I would thoroughly investigate this IDET procedure because it is only experimental first of all. Secondly, it is for small tears of the annular wall in your disc. No clinical studies have been completed on this or any of the other many new procedures. What did the CT scan show? Is the disc herniated? I considered that IDET procedure myself to avoid an open surgery for a huge herniation of the L5/S1 disc but after the discography I ruled it out because of a large tear in the annular wall. This IDET is only recommended for small tears. It changes the structure of your disc material and you basically would be a guinea pig. Let me know how things are going and I feel your pain.

Kevin

Brandon,

First I would ask my doc if I have stretched ligamets and then if I did, I would do Prolotherapy. This stabilizes your pelvis and keeps any disks that are damaged in place. If you have a tear, and it is not impinging on a nerve, then don't have surgery. Why be a test case?

It sounds like you have pain, but it may not be from the disk. It could be from a ligament or a muscle.

A discogram showed pain, that you have a tear, but what about the nerve? I have't read your other posts in other threads, but it doesn't sound like they are too worried about the tear if they are going to do an IDET.

Have you seen a Neurologist? It looks like you had an EMG. The number one thing is to get the inflammation down. You are on Bextra? That is for arthritis. It is a fairly new drug, again you are a test case. I take it also, but for arthritis.

There are many ways to work with this problem besides surgery. I did the Prolotherapy and then lots and lots of stetching, Yoga, walking, and manipulations until I was basically pain free. I am also on Neurtontin. There was controvery surrounding the shady marketing practices of this drug, but it is now approved for nerve pain. It works for us.

Before they cut, exhaust all of your options so you don't fall into the catagory of people (15%) who come back in a year and need more surgery, or the ones who have scar tissue that causes further damage, or the LARGE percentage of people for whom back surgery fails.

JUST SAY NO TO CORTIZONE SHOTS!!!!!